CD Freaks presents Plextor Premium review!

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers Plextor Writer
#1

I’ve been a little sick the last couple of days but the review of the PlexWriter Premium has finally been finished. You can find it here!

[i]Perhaps due to the heavy competition in the CD-RW drive market Plextor was forced to release a 52x writer but we’re of course speculating here. In order to make sure that their latest 52x writer doesn’t just have improved read and (re-)write performance, Plextor has put in some very unique and innovative techniques into their latest writer.

Because of these unique features, such as GigaRec and SecuRec for example which we’ll of course get back to later on in this review, Plextor has dubbed their latest writer, the PlexWriter Premium (in some countries the drive is promoted as Plextor PX-W5232TA) indicating that this drive will support the best that Plextor has to offer.

In this review we’ll see if this new PlexWriter is indeed a ‘premium’ drive and how it stands up to the competition. We’ll of course also test the drive’s unique techniques. Besides that we’ll also take a look at the new PlexTools Professional software with which it’s possible to perform advanced tests (C1/C2 error measurement, Focus/Tracking error tests and Beta/Jitter tests) using the Premium drive.[/i]

#2

Maybe some more media tests:

Moser Baer 32x: The drive started at max speed, aiming at 52x, but reduced the speed to 40x just in time (actually, a bit too late) and then to 32:

Funny, but really cheap, crappy Platinum with unknown manufacturer code are written really well:

MPO Hispace Gold 24x at 40x work:

A Mitsubishi 40x CD-R isn’t bad either, but see below:

Mitsubishi 48x CD-R at 52x is much better:

And Mitsubishi 24x-CD-RW 700 MB media:

Mitsui MAM-E 48x at 4x is a desaster on this drive:

Gigarec Burning, 1.2x setting:

Taiyo Yuden 48x:

Mitsubishi 48x:

Gigarec Burning, 1.4x setting:

Taiyo Yuden 48x:

#3

Gamefreak,
Am I to assume from reading your review screenshots that the new Plextor has perfect zero offset for audio reading/writing?

Robert

#4

You got that information from the Nero CD/DVD Speed Advanced DAE Test right? I think that information is not correct. According to the PlexTools software the drive’s offset is -120ms:

#5

I guess I’ll test it with EAC the old fashion way and let everyone know. RIP, burn, re-read and compare.

Robert

#6

Originally posted by valnar
[B]I guess I’ll test it with EAC the old fashion way and let everyone know. RIP, burn, re-read and compare.

Robert [/B]

When can we expect some numbers? We’re a week further now.

#7

Never got around to it. Too busy.